Though CRT monitors have been made practically obsolete for consumers by the LCD industry, a few industries--photography/visual design/filmmaking--still cling to them for their nonpareil color quality.

Hewlett-Packard is trying to loosen their grip on those clunky desktop space-hoggers by offering a liquid crystal display for visual artist types that boasts the ability to show 1 billion colors for "one quarter" of the cost of other LCD monitors in this category.

At the National Association of Broadcasters show in Las Vegas on Monday, Todd Bradley, vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group, announced that HP has teamed up with DreamWorks for a technology it calls DreamColor.

It will offer 30-bit color using LED-backlighting technology on a widescreen display that will work with a Mac or PC--not just HP products. The displays are intended to keep colors consistent throughout the creative process: from a display on a workstation to film and/or to print. Printers with DreamColor technology were introduced last year.

HP says it's only a "preview" announcement, which means it's not announcing pricing yet. The displays are scheduled to start shipping this summer.